What is exploratory testing?
We use exploratory testing when we want to learn more about something. If there is no basic requirement document to match against, we perform one round of exploratory testing.
So, we’ll first investigate the application in all possible ways, grasp the application’s flow, prepare a test document, and then run tests, this is known as exploratory testing.
Why do we use Exploratory Testing?
This testing will be used for the following purposes:
- When requirements are missing.
- To iterate early on.
- When a critical application is being tested, the testing team includes both seasoned testers and new testers.
For example, If the application has a login page with a lot of components, we’ll understand each one and perform component testing, but we’re really performing exploratory testing because we’re exploring the software.
Assume we have a large number of modules in our framework and are attempting to execute several integration scenarios.
When conducting integration testing, we are unknowingly performing exploratory testing.
And when we are performing system testing, we are unconsciously doing exploratory testing because we are also learning and evaluating the application.
Why are requirements missing?
If the project is very old, the test engineer may not be able to grasp each scenario from the beginning, and specifications may be missing.
For example, we don’t see any quick processes in each business, which means we can’t expect the release to be completed in one month and the product to be delivered in a short period of time.
Many enterprises are still working on a product that has been produced for the last six to twelve years.
Consider an enterprise that has a 15-year-old project and has recently employed a new test engineer. Since he or she is new to the application, the new test engineer does indeed have a difficult time understanding any scenario or requirement from scratch or from the beginning.
What would a test engineer do with 15-year-old software in that case?
So, first and foremost, he or she will download the application and begin exploring it. When the test engineer begins to use the application, he or she can gain an understanding of how it functions. And this is nothing but exploratory testing.
Types of exploratory testing:
We can perform exploratory testing with 3 types:
- FreeStyle
- Strategy Based
- Scenario-Based
Freestyle:
We do not obey any rules in freestyle testing, there is no maximum coverage, and we will explore the application as we would in improvised testing. We may use freestyle exploratory testing to get familiar with the software and review the work of other test engineers.
Strategy Based:
Multiple testing methods, such as risk-based, boundary value analysis, and equivalence partitioning, can be used to conduct strategy-based exploratory testing.
It is performed by an experienced tester who has been using the application for a long time and is very familiar with it.
Scenario-Based:
Multiple scenarios, such as end-to-end, test scenarios, and actual user scenarios, are used in scenario-based exploratory testing.
While exploring the application, the test engineer will identify defects and review different sets of possibilities for multiple scenarios using their application knowledge.
Advantages of exploratory testing
- Critical bugs can be spotted early as test engineers need fewer preparations.
- We can find the bugs which may have been missed in test cases.
- Test Engineers need lots of concentration to understand the functionality so there are chances to find more bugs.
Disadvantages of exploratory testing
- It is time-consuming
- The test engineers can misunderstand the feature for a bug.
- The test engineers can misunderstand the bug for a feature.
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